Inside Deep Purple 1969-1973

Rating:
Summary: Nice but a Band this Good Deserves Even Better
Review: Though easily one of the greatest bands of all time, Deep Purple remains heavily underrated and somewhat overlooked. On stage they were virtually unmatched in terms of improvisation and unpredictability. On album, the now-famous Mark II lineup created hard rock history. This DVD is a critical analysis of those first Mark II years.

The material on this disk is presented in a chronological fashion and each album, from 1970's In Rock to 1973's Who Do We Think We Are, is discussed by various British session musicians and critics. Each album is then rated on a one to five star scale. Much as you'd expect, there are plenty of live clips to accompany the discussions but NONE of the footage shown is in its entirety (think of VH1 Legends or Behind the Music in terms of editing). If you're interested in seeing full versions of most of these performances, check out "Deep Purple Rock Review 1970 - 1972" and "Deep Purple Masters from the Vault". What's interesting, if slightly mystifying, is that this disk was taken from the same source as "Rock Review 1970 - 1972" (perhaps a TV special aired in Britain?). Basically this means you'll see a slight bit of repetitiveness if you buy both. It would have made so much more sense to compile everything onto one disk to create a more comprehensive show, but I suppose chopping it up meant more money for somebody. In any event, though not necessarily overly insightful, this is still a very entertaining 62 minutes for any classic Deep Purple fan. If you're just getting started with the band and all of this is new to you, you'll probably enjoy it even more.